Gartner has reported that smartphone sales worldwide grew 20.3 percent in Q3 2014, while mobile sales overall remained flat. The firm predicts that smart phone sales will reach 1.2 billion in 2014.
According to the report, a total of 301 million smartphones were sold in Q3 2014 and electronics giant Samsung remains the top smartphone vendor, followed by Apple. Chinese vendor Xiaomi has made its way to the top 5 vendors for the first time, with a sharp increase in sales from last year. Xiaomi sales were 16 million for a 5.2 percent market share, an increase of nearly 4 percent, on the other hand smartphone leader Samsung saw a decline of nearly 8 percent in sales from an year ago.
Gartner says that Xiaomi experienced the highest growth of any vendor this quarter up 336% “driven by strong performance in China where it became market leader.” Read: Xiaomi sales in India halted till further notice, Hugo Barra clarifies
Samsung and Apple combined market share has declined seven percent while Chinese smartphone manufacturers Huawei, Xiaomi and Lenovo collective market share has increased by 4.1 percent in Q3 2014.
Roberta Cozza, research director at Gartner states, “With the ability to undercut cost and offer top specs Chinese brands are well positioned to expand in the premium phone market too and address the needs of upgrade users that aspire to premium phones, but cannot afford Apple or Samsung high-end products. The smartphone market is more than ever in flux as more players step up their game in this space,” added Ms. Cozza.
Gartner predicts that smartphone sales will reach 1.2 billion in 2014 driven by low cost Android sales. Gartner says, “Chinese players will continue to look at expanding in overseas emerging markets. In Europe prepaid country markets and attractive lost-cost LTE phones will also offer key opportunities for these brands.”
Worldwide Smartphone Sales to End Users by Operating System in 3Q14 (Thousands of Units)
| Operating System | 3Q14 Units | 3Q14 Market Share (%) | 3Q13 Units | 3Q13 Market Share (%) |
| Android | 250060.2 | 83.1 | 205243 | 82 |
| iOS | 38186.6 | 12.7 | 30330 | 12.1 |
| Windows | 9033.4 | 3 | 8916 | 3.6 |
| Blackberry | 2419.5 | 0.8 | 4401 | 1.8 |
| Other OS | 1310.2 | 0.4 | 1407 | 0.6 |
| Total | 301009.9 | 100 | 250296.8 | 100 |
Worldwide Mobile Phone Sales to End Users by Vendor in 3Q14 (Thousands of Units)
| Company | 3Q14 Units | 3Q14 Market Share (%) | 3Q13 Units | 3Q13 Market Share (%) |
| Samsung | 94017.8 | 20.6 | 117060.8 | 25.7 |
| Nokia | 43134.2 | 9.5 | 63058.8 | 13.8 |
| Apple | 38186.6 | 8.4 | 30330 | 6.7 |
| LG Electronics | 18976.8 | 4.2 | 18046.3 | 4 |
| Huawei | 16324.3 | 3.6 | 13574.8 | 3 |
| TCL Communication | 15955.5 | 3.5 | 13311 | 2.9 |
| Xiaomi | 15772.5 | 3.5 | 3617.5 | 0.8 |
| Lenovo | 15131.5 | 3.3 | 12999.8 | 2.9 |
| ZTE | 13857.6 | 3 | 13697.3 | 3 |
| Micromax | 10172.4 | 2.2 | 6786.5 | 1.5 |
| Others | 174255.4 | 38.2 | 163223.8 | 35.8 |
| Total | 455784.7 | 100 | 455706.5 | 100 |
Source: Gartner
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